HARPENDEN II: 2
WEST HERTS III: 1
22.01.05

Harpenden went in to a relegation six-pointer on Saturday well aware that anything but victory would simply not do.

On the back of a woeful performance against Broxbourne a week earlier - the less said about which the better - the blues found themselves occupying the second space in the Div 3 Drop Zone. However, in a league in which one team, Stevenage, is head and shoulders above the rest, but the rest are all much the same, a couple of consecutive wins can take a team up three or four places. Harpenden knew that victories against West Herts this week and Bedford next could see the blues easing towards safety.

A slight tactical readjustment saw the midfield diamond under instructions to play more closely together, with the width on the flank coming from overlapping right back Dave Waters and his left-sided counterpart Steve Piercy. And, as the first half progressed, this seemed to be paying dividends, with centre halves Dave Munton and Niall McAlister seeing lots of the ball and finding a wealth of options available to them each time. Captain-elect Niall Blackwell was linking well with skipper Fraser Tant, and only two good saves from the young keeper kept the blues from taking a deserved lead. That said, blues stopper Ben Brind had to be alert when called in to action, pulling off a tremendous reflex save the looked like breaking the deadlook just before the break.

At half time, the message was clear: here were two evenly matched sides slugging it out, and the winner would be the one who wanted it more and worked hardest. As Brind said, "Some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some people wonder what happened. It's in our hands - go forth and sieze it." And seize it they did.

Ten minutes after the break, Harpenden got the breakthrough. A succession of slick passing moves through the middle saw Paul Clements win a short corners, and with the defenders anticipating a straight strike, McAlister cleverly switched the ball back to his captain, and Tant made no mistake in slapping the ball in to the bottom corner. But, the lead was shortlived, when West Herts scored from a highly dubious short corner of their own, the strike being roofed in to the net although whether it had gone 5 yards beyond the D to permit a high strike was a moot point.

Harpenden have squandered leads on a few occasions this season - indeed, had they retained their leads they would currently be comfortably mid-table. But, they were adamant they would not do so this time. Dan Pickard's energy in midfield secured plenty of ball for the team's playmakers, and when his mazy run in to the D ended with a clumsy tackle, his side were awarded another penalty corner. This time McAlister took on the shot himself, and his shot was deflected in to the net to restore the lead.

As the visitors laid seige pushing for an equaliser, they came across a rock and the immovable object in Andy Lunn and Neil Liles. The defences were not to be breached, and the blues came out on top. "Yeah, it was a good win, although one good performance doesn't erase 8 bad ones" said the cheerful Steve Piercy, but his teammates know he's right. The blues future in Div 3 is in their own hands, starting next week at Bedford.

Niall McAlister: Veteran Irish Poacher made the first and scored the winner.